DSLR working... in extreme temperature/humidity

[DARSON]

I went for a trip with my wife to one of the UAE islands last weekend. Summer is here and temperature can reach already 47-49 degrees Celsius and humidity on coastal area can reach 85-90%. On one day early morning 6;30AM we took 1.5h "safari trip to see animals which run freely on the Island. My camera 5D Mark gave up towards the end of that short trip. I took maybe 150 shots. I was not able to change any AF point. I had to switch off camera for few minutes to restore functionality. My wife had 30D an there was no problem with it at all. She took less pictures than me and maybe this had some thing to do with it,. Morning temperature was around 40 degrees which is within operating range of 5D MK II.
ON second day we took walk for 5k starting from 5PM. Temperature was way above 40. I took maybe 20-30 pics and my wife similar amount. Situation got reversed my 5d worked without any problem and 30D completely gave up. Not responsive unless switched off for few minutes.
Does anyone had similar experience maybe in Middle East or Africa or anywhere with temp. above 40 degrees Celsius? Different bodies?
How the weather sealing influence heat/cold/humidity resistance?

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

For that kind of environment, its common for someone to bring the camera from the hot and humid outdoors into a nice cool air conditioned room. Then, moisture will condense inside the camera, and if it ends up in the wrong place, you can start seeing problems. It builds up more each time you do another cycle, so it can be intermittent. The next day, you take the camera out, and may see a issue that disappears when you turn off the camera and let it hang from a strap at a different angle while the water drains away from the sensitive circuit.

A 1 series might be better, but you need to avoid a rapid drop of temperature so that the moist air does not condense out inside the camera.

Aircraft taking off from a hot humid field literally rain inside the body as the plane ascends to the cold at high altitude and water condenses out of the air. The insulation and interor panels are designed to flow the water down into the bilge, where it is exhausted overboard thru heated drains. Sometimes interior panels get improperly installed after maintenance, and a passenger gets wet from drops of waterleaking out. More commonly, you might see a puff of water mist as the airconditioning comes on in the cabin.

another possibility is that the battery is overheating and unable to supply enough current. Turning the camera off might let the battery recover. Be sure to use genuine Canon batteries, and try inserting a spare to see if that helps.

 

[wopbv4]

Just had a trip to Singapore, where it is humid as well. 5D MKII was useless, it sort of stopped working within 5 shots. 7D performed a lot better, but still gave the error 30 code. I found that by changing the battery on the 7D the error would go away for some 25 shots, change batery another 25 shots ...
The battery changing trick did not work on the 5D.

As suggested, taking the camera from airco rooms to outside and back again causes condensation inside the camera.
7D performed a lot better then the 5D II. So, I have ordered a 1DX in the hope that this issue will not be there.
I will find out once I get my 1DX (whenever that may be)

 

[wickidwombat]

i've used a 1Dmk1 and 1Dmk3 in 50+ degrees C environments including high humidity and massive amounts of dust, they are unstoppable with the 24-105 on em and they never missed a beat
only issue i had was when me the camera and lens got doused in iron ore mud some worked its way into the focus ring on the lens which cost me $170 to have cleaned out by a canon tech (this is why i wish they had made the new 24-70 a non extending lens)